Recommended developer tools

Transitioning from IIS / ASP / SQL Server 2000

[dataguy]

After literally years of stuggling with ASP.NET I've decided that I really need to test the LAMP waters. I've been developing sites using ASP / vbscript and SQL Server for a decade, mostly using Front Page and Enterprise Manager.

What developer tools do you think would help me the most in making this transition?

TIA...

[Habtom]

Not fully LAMP but if you want to try PHP with Mysql in Windows (anyway you know Windows well ;)) you can try WAMP5. If you decide to go for this, you can search on google and download the package.

Habtom

[steve]

I've just made the move from asp to php because .net was doing my head in, so as a php novice I recommend:

You'll want a decent php editor, take a look at Komodo, Zend Development Environment (my favourite) or php designer.

For mysql you can use phpmyadmin which is a free browser based solution, but I prefer Navicat which gives you a windows interface.

I started with XAMMP running from a USB stick, but quickly decided to build a 'play' server from an old PC. One tip if you have already selected a host, try to use the same linux, and versions of php and mysql.

If you are going all out for linux, install webmin on your server. It's a free web based control panel for linux which I find much easier to use than the command line.